Part 29 (1/2)

ARTICLE 54

The National Chancellor and the National Ministers require for the administration of their offices the confidence of the National a.s.sembly.

Each of them must resign if the National a.s.sembly by formal resolution withdraws its confidence.

ARTICLE 55

The National Chancellor presides over the National Cabinet and conducts its affairs in accordance with rules of procedure, which will be framed by the National Cabinet and approved by the National President.

ARTICLE 56

The National Chancellor determines the general course of policy and a.s.sumes responsibility therefor to the National a.s.sembly. In accordance with this general policy each National Minister conducts independently the particular affairs intrusted to him and is held individually responsible to the National a.s.sembly.

ARTICLE 57

The National Ministers shall submit to the National Cabinet for consideration and decision all drafts of bills and other matters for which this procedure is prescribed by the Const.i.tution or by law, as well as differences of opinion over questions which concern the departments of several National Ministers.

ARTICLE 58

The National Cabinet will make its decisions by majority vote. In case of a tie the vote of the presiding officer will be decisive.

ARTICLE 59

The National a.s.sembly is empowered to impeach the National President, the National Chancellor, and the National Ministers before the Supreme Judicial Court of the German Commonwealth for any wrongful violation of the Const.i.tution or laws of the Commonwealth. The proposal to bring an impeachment must be signed by at least one hundred members of the National a.s.sembly and requires the approval of the majority prescribed for amendments to the Const.i.tution. The details will be regulated by the national law relating to the Supreme Judicial Court.

_SECTION IV_

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

ARTICLE 60

A National Council will be organized to represent the German States in national legislation and administration.

ARTICLE 61

In the National Council each State has at least one vote. In the case of the larger States one vote is accorded for every million inhabitants.

Any excess equal at least to the population of the smallest State is reckoned as equivalent to a full million. No State shall be accredited with more than two-fifths of all votes.

[German-Austria after its union with the German Commonwealth will receive the right of partic.i.p.ation in the National Council with the number of votes corresponding to its population. Until that time the representatives of German-Austria have a deliberate voice.][84]

[84] Stricken out at the demand of the Supreme Council of the Allied and a.s.sociated Powers. The Supreme Council addressed the following demand to Germany on September 2, 1919:

”The Allied and a.s.sociated Powers have examined the German Const.i.tution of August 11, 1919. They observe that the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 61 const.i.tute a formal violation of Article 80 of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919. This violation is twofold: